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Preparing to leave
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico |
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Tonight is to be our last night in Cabo San Lucas. Tomorrow morning we will begin our next passage, eventually arriving in La Paz, in three to four days. Tomorrow afternoon we will arrive at Los Frailes. It is the home of an underwater park know as Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park. It has the only hard-coral reef system on the W side of North America. The following day we will head to Bahia de los Muertos before heading to La Paz. We have had some projects that needed tending while here that delayed our departure a day. I had decided to replace our four 6 volt deep cycle house batteries. No to bad if you have a car, but problematic on foot. I went to the boat yard to hopefully acquire them. Armando soon became my best friend. He called all over to find them, and thought he had and they would be delivered in the afternoon. He later called me and said he had only gotten two but he would drive me to another part of town to get the other two on Saturday. (Saturday is an off day for him.) I would have to purchase the last two from another supplier, not from the boat yard. After we had them all, he drove me to the marina and help me carry them to the boat. When I offered to pay him, he refused, saying all part of the service. Now these batteries weigh at least 60 lbs each and they are nestle in the bilge, where it would be difficult for a midget to get to and I’m no spring chicken. I had to remove the four old ones and then install the new ones. During these transfers, you are seldom standing on two legs and there is only room to swing the battery around with one arm! I did finally get the old ones out and the new ones in, then the task of wiring them up. Each pair of batteries is wired in parallel to create 12 volts, then in Series to give the combined amperage. Then wiring in the charger-inverter, alternator, new controller for the solar panels pus a few other stragglers. Then when all done…the smoke test!!! And ….. no smoke everything worked!!! But as I was edging my way out, I noticed that the mounting bracket for the alternator was cracked! So we had to delay our departure from yesterday to tomorrow. I went back to the boatyard this morning and in half an hour had my repaired welded bracket. Since I had extra time yesterday, I repaired the light on the ships compass. And then I tackled the auto-pilot. Coming down, I think we were the only boat the hand steered the whole way. We will play with it,as we inch north this week. It will be great to have workingfor the overnight passages when we bash north, going home. I will close now. Vickie is writing another blog about our stay in Cabo. Warm Regards, Dennis